Silver Isn't the Only Thing That Hurts
by Bri901
Summary: This is my depiction of what would happen if Dimitri didn't turn Strigoi. What if he reconsidered Tasha's offer? What if Spirit has unknown side effects? And what if everything was turned upside down? Disclaimer- I do NOT own Vampire Academy or any of these amazing characters. **ON HIATUS**
1. Chapter 1

I looked everywhere for Dimitri, but he was nowhere to be found. It was funny...this is where he told me he was going to be, and yet...

As I pondered where he went, I saw a familiar face that just might have my answers.

"Hey Mom, have you seen Dimitri?" I asked the petite redhead in front of me.

"I believe he went outside," she responded and pointed to a door.

"Thank you," I called out as I made my way towards the door she had indicated.

As I walked outside, the sunlight streamed down on my face. It was Saturday, and even though I was tired, I had stayed up so I could enjoy the sunlight that irritated the Moroi.

It seemed the guardians on campus were up 24/, as if they never took a break. I continued to ponder this as I walked around trying to find Dimitri and I finally found him, sitting alone on a bench.

"Hey comrade," I said as I walked over to him. He didn't look at me, he just continued to stare at the sky.

"Dimitri...what's wrong?" I asked becoming slightly worried.

Dimitri looked at me with dozens of emotions crossing his features. "Roza I've decided to reconsider Tasha's offer. I'm going to take it."

I tried to say something but no words could push through the lump that had formed in my throat. I felt tears start to form in my eyes.

After a few moments of trying to hold them back, I finally managed to stammer out a question. The one I wanted an answer to more than anything. "Aft...after we...we?" My heart ached as the words left my mouth. The tears burned in my eyes and I could barely see Dimitri as my vision started to blur.

"Rose, I don't regret what happened but that doesn't mean that it wasn't a mistake. It shouldn't have happened in the first place."

I didn't know how to respond. I loved Dimitri. How could he just leave me like this? I tried to say something else, but the lump in my throat made it sound like a strangled cry.

I could see the pain in Dimitri's eyes but I didn't care. He was leaving me, not the other way around. A sudden feeling came over me-one that seemed to say why are you still standing here? You need to get away from him!

Whatever that feeling was, something made me trust it. Before I knew it, I was turning on my heel. My eyes burning from the hot tears running down my face in streams. My heart felt like it had been shattered into millions of pieces.

I didn't know where to go, and I was half aware of Dimitri's footsteps following along behind me. Thinking about it annoyed me. Why did he have to follow me, or try and comfort me when I had to learn to live without him?

I finally found myself at the Novice dorm rooms. Without even stopping, I went inside and ran up the stairs. I didn't stop until I was at my room. I quickly unlocked it before stepping inside and slamming the door. After locking it, I walked over to the bed, ready to collapse. I was vaguely aware of the tears still rolling down my checks.

I layed in bed for a few moments before I heard a soft knock on the door. "Roza, please, I don't want to leave you like this."

I couldn't bring myself to answer. Dimitri stood on the other side of my door for about ten minutes while I stayed silent the whole time. Finally he called my name once more, and then I heard him walk away.

I spent the rest of the Moroi 'night' curled up in my bed just trying to make sense of what was happening. Dimitri was sending me so many mixed signals. Or maybe it wasn't complicated, and he just didn't love me.

Around 9 PM I could feel Lissa asking to meet me for breakfast, but I just didn't have the will power. To do anything would require too much of me, and my heart just couldn't take anymore. It felt like my heart had been shattered.

I could feel Lissa growing more and more worried about me as time passed.

At around 12 AM, I heard a knock on my door. "Little Dhampir are you in there?" I heard Adrian ask on the other side.

Knowing I couldn't continue to ignore everyone, I untangled myself from the mess of blankets. When I opened the door, I saw Adrian's face change from one of happiness to concern. "Are you ok?" He asked.

He walked past me into my dorm before continuing, "Your aura...it's so strange. It's not just the normal notes of black around the edges. It's grey and red...there's _a lot_ of red. And," he paused for another second as he just stared at me, "there's also little hints of teal and gold. The gold-it's so bright. I've never seen anything like it, not even on Lissa. It's perplexing how someone that has so many dark and angry colors can have that bright of a gold."

I couldn't hold it back anymore. As he went on, tears started pouring down my face again and this time, it made my earlier crying look like a drizzle compared to this thunderstorm. Adrian looked truly shocked. And if I hadn't been crying, I probably would have found it funny.

I sat down on the bed and started to tell Adrian everything. I told him about what happened at the cabin. How scared I was that I was going to lose Dimitri in battle. And lastly I told him about him leaving, and what he said.

At first I could tell that Adrian was confused. He was staring at me, a concentrated and worried look plastered on his face. I knew he was trying to read my aura for clues as to what was wrong.

When I got to the part about Dimitri leaving Adrian got visibly angry. "I can't believe him! Oh Rose, I'm so sorry. No wonder your aura is so messed up."

Adrian hugged me which didn't exactly surprise me. The part that did was that it was nothing more than him trying to comfort me. A friendly hug.

"I didn't know my cousin was such an ass," I heard him mumble under his breath. I didn't think he meant for me to hear him but I did.

"Cousin?" I asked incredulously.

"He never told you? Dimitri's dad is my dad's brother. Wow, I can't believe he never told you."

My mind was racing as I tried to make sense of this new knowledge. Dimitri and Adrian, _cousins. _That's crazy.

"Does being an asshole run in the family?" I asked.

"I'll try not to be too offended because I know you're hurting Little Dhampir, but ouch," Adrian laughed and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

Me and Adrian talked for a little bit longer before he said he had to go. As he was leaving he gave me one last piece of advice, "Just remember: hurting or not, you can't hide forever."


	2. Chapter 2

Adrian told Lissa I wasn't feeling well for me, which was supposed to make her feel better…but it ended up doing the very opposite.

Around 4 AM I dozed off only to be woken by a knock at my door not 30 minutes later. When I opened the door, grumbling and still a little annoyed, I saw Lissa standing on the other side with what looked like a bowl of soup.

"Adrian told me you were feeling sick. So I brought you some soup!" I couldn't be mad at her. She didn't know and if I really was sick, it would have been a nice gesture.

I invited Lissa in, and we sat on the bed talking for a few minutes. Then Lissa started talking about Tasha, and I knew she was about to tell me about Dimitri taking the offer. I found it harder for me to keep up my cool façade.

While Lissa kept on, I felt a tear slide down my face. I wiped it away before Lissa saw but that was just the start. I couldn't hold it back anymore. I felt so weak and frustrated. I was supposed to be the one keeping it together.

At first Lissa didn't notice I was crying but when I accidentally sniffled she looked up at me. I saw confusion and worry on her face. "Oh Rose what's wrong?" She asked, her voice laced with concern.

How was I going to tell Lissa? She was going to be so mad, but the worst part was that I wasn't even sure who she was going to be more mad at: Dimitri or me.

"I...I have to tell you something," I stammered.

"What?" She asked. I could feel her becoming more confused.

"I know guardian Belikov is leaving. I know...I know because we were more than friends, more than mentor-student too."

I saw Lissa just become more confused until realization finally dawned on her face. "How did I not realize this before!?" She practically yelled.

"Lissa I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't tell anyone. The only person who knew was Adrian, but he figured it out himself-I didn't tell him." Tears once again were pouring down my face in steady streams. My eyes stung and had a horrible burning sensation, but I couldn't stop.

"Oh Rose I'm so sorry!" Lissa exclaimed. I never cried in front of her. I was always the one who kept it together. I just couldn't anymore. I felt so weak, so defeated.

I wiped away some of the tears before continuing. I told Lissa everything just like I did Adrian except I had to fill in the blanks about are relationship. For example the lust charm.

Lissa was stunned. She couldn't believe what I was telling her. When I got to the part about the cabin, I could feel Lissa getting increasingly angrier.

"I CAN NOT BELIEVE HIM!" she yelled. I just looked down pretending to be extremely interested in the comforter under me. "Oh Rose I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed wrapping her arms around me.

"No wonder your so upset...I just couldn't imagine." she shook her head.

She sat with me in silence for a few minutes, and then realizing that I needed some alone time, she went to meet Christian and Adrian for dinner.

I hadn't even realized how tired I was until I felt myself being pulled into a Spirit dream.

"When did I fall asleep?" I asked Adrian's figure that was coming into view.

"I think you just did," he responded.

I looked around and realized we were in the attic of the chapel. Moonlight poured in through the stained glass window.

"Why here?" I asked Adrian as he too looked around.

"This wasn't just random. I've been doing research about your aura, and I think I've found something."

"What?"

"Well I'm pretty sure the teal was a piece of hope, hope that Dimitri still loved you and that he wasn't leaving you. But the gold-that was harder to find anything about. I decided to do some research to see if Spirit held the answer. I assumed it was the best place to start since I've only ever seen any form of gold on a Spirit user." Adrian ran his finger over a book that was on the shelf causing dust to fly off of it.

"They really should clean up here more often," he said as he wiped his hand on his jeans.

"Adrian, what did you find?" I asked getting a little impatient.

"Well it definitely has something to do with Spirit. The most likely thing I found is that while in such great emotional pain instead of pulling darkness from Lissa you pulled some of her light."

My mouth was practically on the floor when he said it, I was extremely confused to say the least. I had only ever been able to pull the darkness from her. What did this mean for Lissa and me?

Adrian saw my confusion and decided to do some more elaborating, "It won't affect Lissa as far as I can tell, and I don't think you'll be able to do it consciously. But I think this may be able to help the both of you control the darkness."

I was happy about this new discovery. It could possibly help us contain the darkness. I just wished it hadn't taken Dimitri leaving for us to figure it out.

I suddenly felt myself being pulled out of the dream. Adrian could sense it too, "You, Lissa and me need to talk later...in person. Hold in there, Little Dhampir."

And with that, I was sucked out of the dream.


	3. Chapter 3

When I first opened my eyes, I was slightly disoriented and unable to immediately pin-pont what had woken me up. After a minute, I heard it again...someone was pacing outside my room.

I got up and walked over to the door, getting tired of all the surprise visits today. When I opened the door, I saw Alberta pacing on the other side.

"Rose," she said when she saw me. Her demeanor showed she was slightly confused, which honestly confused me as she was pacing outside my room afterall.

"How are you?" She asked.

"I'm guessing I shouldn't even bother saying fine?" I questioned.

"Well it would be a lie. Can I come in?"

I opened the door for Alberta to come in. I had a feeling she had known about Dimitri and me, but I was never sure. Alberta didn't sit down; she just stood by the door, which was a common habit of most guardians.

"I was surprised when Dimitri came to me saying he was taking Natasha's offer. I wasn't however surprised that you were the reason," she informed me.

"Guardian Belikov," I corrected. "No reason to ignore informalities now."

"Wow he did more damage to you than I thought," Alberta huffed. I could tell she was angry, Alberta had always been the closest thing to a mother I had at the academy. And every so often she showed that overly protective side of herself, and now was one of those times.

"No. If anything this whole situation has reminded me that I need to re-focus on what's most important, Lissa."

"Rose, they don't always come first. If you need anything, anything at all. You know how to find me."

"Alberta…" I stopped her as she was about to walk out of the room. "Will I still have a mentor?"

Alberta smiled, "Report to your regular training session. You'll find out who your new mentor is tomorrow." And with that Alberta walked out of the room.

When I woke up on Monday, for half a second I thought I was about to go to training and see Dimitri laying on the floor reading a western. Then I woke up fully and realized the truth.

I had spent Sunday either crying or sleeping. I knew Lissa was worried about me, but she gave me space.

I wanted to know who my new mentor was, but I was so tired. Not to mention I was in a horrible mood.

After I finished getting ready, I headed to the gym. I walked slowly taking in everything around me.

When I finally got to the gym, I pushed open the door. I saw in the middle of the gym a short female guardian with curly red hair.

"Mom!?" I asked with disbelief.

"Rosemarie," she responded turning around.

"What are you doing here?" I asked incredulously.

"I was assigned to be your new mentor."

I felt like I was going to faint. My _mother_, Janine Hathaway was my new mentor. While mine and my mother's relationship was slowly improving, I still couldn't handle her this much all at one time.

I took a deep breath, "Ok if we are going to be spending this much time together, I want you to call me Rose. I don't go by Rosemarie. You are the only person who has ever called me that, which was ok since we never saw each other. But now, it's Rose," I said as calmly and possible.

"Ok _Rose_ shall we get started?" She asked. Even though I told her to call me Rose it still sounded strange coming out of her mouth.

"Yes. What will we be working on?"

"Staking. I want to observe what needs improvement. Tonight, our focus will be sparing."

I nodded. And my mother and I spent the rest of training staking dummies.

At the end of training she said to me, "You are extremely good. Guardian Belikov taught you well. I guess someone was finally able to keep you under control long enough to teach you something."

I took a deep breath, _there's got to be a compliment in there somewhere_, I thought.

At lunch I sat down beside Lissa while her and Christian were talking. When I sat down she immediately shifted her attention to me. Sparky looked kind of mad. _Looks like Lissa hasn't told him yet,_ I thought.

"So Rose how's your day been so far?" She asked.

"Ya little Dhampir how's your day?" Adrian asked as he sat down across from me.

"Well I have a new mentor," I said with only a hint of bitterness in my voice.

"Who?" Lissa questioned curiously. I could tell from the bond her real motive was to figure out if I was ready for a new mentor yet.

"My mother," I answered unable to hide the bitterness in my tone any longer. I heard Christian snicker from beside Lissa, "Oh shove it Sparky," I snapped.

"Why would they do that to you?" Lissa asked sympathetically.

"That's exactly what I plan on asking Alberta," I responded.

"I for one think it's a great idea," Adrian commented. I shot him a glare. "So Rose, Lissa and I have a Spirit meeting tonight. You should join us," Adrian said trying to change the subject.

"Hey! You invite Rose, and I'm not invited!? That's unfair!" Christian scoffed.

"Oh, it's ok, Sparky there's always next time," I replied mockingly.

"Whatever," Christian muttered.

When I got to Adrian's room after another training with my mother that night, I was just ready to go to sleep. When I knocked the door was flung open by Adrian.

"Little Dhampir!" He exclaimed wrapping his arm around my shoulder almost brotherly. I couldn't smell any alcohol or cigarette smoke on his breath.

"Sorry I'm late. Practice ran a little over," I told Lissa and Adrian as I sat down across from Lissa at the table she was sitting at.

"It's ok," Lissa responded.

"Speak for yourself. I haven't been able to drink anything today because of this Spirit learning crap tonight," Adrian complained.

"You stayed sober for me! I'm honored!" I exclaimed.

"Only you Little Dhampir. Now let's get this possibly dangerous party started."


	4. Chapter 4

LPOV (Lissa)

"Rose, you should quit doing that," Adrian warned her. She was still trying to consciously pull some of my light like she had been for the past 30 minutes. "Rose quit. You're pulling too much darkness. Way too much."

Adrian was monitoring Rose's and my auras to track our progress. "No I can feel it. I'm almost there, just a little longer."

"You've been saying that for the past 15 minutes. It's time to s…" Adrian was cut off mid-sentence by Rose falling off the bed where she had been sitting.

"Rose!" I yelled. Adrian ran over to her, picked her up and brought her over to me.

"Can you heal her?" He asked, worry clearly evident in his voice.

"I don't think I can. This is spirit induced." I put my hands over her anyway and waited for the surge of magic I knew so well, but it never came.

"We need to get her to the school doctor. I'll call Alberta and have her meet us there."

Adrian and I began walking to the hospital. He was carrying Rose, but we both knew that he wouldn't be able to much longer.

"We need to find a guardian to carry her. I'm already feeling extremely weak."

Suddenly I saw a figure walking not exactly towards us but not away from us either. I stared at the figure for a moment longer and recognized it or, better yet, him.

"Christian!" I yelled, panic echoing through my voice. He glanced in our direction and then broke into a run towards us.

"Lissa? What's wrong?" He yelled back.

"It's Rose." I said as Christian finally made it to us.

"What's wrong with her?" He asked, worry filling his demeanor.

"We were practicing spirit. She…she took too much darkness," I said, a single tear sliding down my face.

"Did you try to heal her?" Christian asked me.

"Yes," I choked out before tears started streaming down my face. Christian hugged me and pulled me closer to him.

"It's ok. We'll find a guardian to help us," Christian soothed. I laid my head against his chest for a moment until I saw headlights in the distance.

"Wait is that a car?" I asked shielding my eyes with my forearm.

"OHHHH…I forgot to tell you Aunt Tasha's coming for my birthday. Oh this is perfect. She can help." Christian smiled.

I turned to Adrian, "We have to get her out of her NOW!" I yelled at him. He nodded his head and picked her back up.

"Wait why?" Christian asked.

"Meet your Aunt and keep her busy. DO NOT mention Rose. Meet me in the infirmary in an hour. Adrian come on!" I barked bolting up from where I had been squatting beside Christian.

Adrian and I ran as fast as we could, my heart thumping loudly in my chest. Rose was already going to be waking up to god-knows-what, and if she woke up to Dimitri and Tasha being there, she might literally go insane.

When we were safely out of sight, Adrian sat down with Rose, and I pulled my phone out. Still panting from running, I dialed Alberta's number.

"Princess is everything ok? I was contemplating calling you, and I'm sure you know why."

"I'm okay, but it's Rose. She's not okay, we need help getting her to the infirmary. And yes I found out why almost too late."

Alberta asked me where I was, and she stayed on the phone with me as she started going to the infirmary. Within a minute I heard footsteps approaching us. A guardian I had briefly seen around campus came up to Adrian and me, followed by two guardians I had never seen.

"Princess," he greeted.

"Please we need to get her to Dr. Olendzki," I said looking over at Rose.

"Of course Princess," he replied picking Rose up. Adrian and I followed behind the guardians until they insisted we go to the feeders while they take Rose to the infirmary.

After a split second at the feeders, Adrian and I were running towards the infirmary. When we got there, Dr. Olendzki questioned Adrian and me about what happened. We told her about Rose pulling my light. We were careful not to mention Dimitri at all, knowing it wasn't something that should be getting out. We told her about how much Rose had pulled—well, more like Adrian told her.

Adrian and I sat in the waiting room until I heard someone behind me, "Sorry Liss…I've never really been a good liar."

Turning around I saw Christian. Following behind him, I saw Tasha, and behind her, Dimitri. I shot up from my seat, grabbed Christian's hand and pulled him into Dr. O's office, closing the door behind me.

"I can not believe you!" I yelled.

Outside the door, I heard Adrian, "Cousin let me in."

I cracked the door, and he walked in and shut the door behind him.

"Rose better not wake up because she will kill me!" I yelled as I began pacing. _How could he? I gave him simple directions,_ I thought.

"He didn't know," Adrian said.

"Are you really defending him!?" I demanded.

"What are you talking about?" Christian asked clearly extremely confused.

I told Christian everything with a little help from Adrian. When we were finished he said, "Oh my God. Poor Rose."

"Now you see why I didn't want them here!?" I whisper-yelled, running my hands through my hair.

"Cousin it's the darkness," Adrian whispered.

"NO IT'S NOT! ROSE ALMOST KILLED HERSELF TAKING SO MUCH FROM ME!"

Dr. Olendzki came through the door. "Princess I just thought you should know Rose is waking up."

"Who's with her?" Adrian asked.

"Lady Ozera and Guardian Belikov."


	5. Chapter 5

(LPOV)

I ran down the hall towards the room Rose was in and stopped outside the door for a second. It was silent except for the sound of footsteps behind me.

I pushed open the door and saw Tasha looking at Rose with a wicked smile on her face. Rose was still sleeping, but I could tell she would wake up any moment…and they couldn't be here when she did.

Dimitri was standing in the corner, his guardian façade clearly in place. "You two—out now…please," I said calmly but the dangerous edge in my voice was evident.

"Oh Lissa, it's wonderful to see you!" Tasha exclaimed wrapping her arms around me in a hug.

I pulled back from Tasha's hug. "It's great to see you too, but Rose doesn't need a lot of people in here when she wakes up. She needs to rest. You understand," I said with a fake smile plastered on my face and slight compulsion running through my veins.

I guess me using magic jolted Rose awake because I heard a sudden scream from behind me.

"Get out now!" I yelled without the slightest bit of compulsion, but my voice was strong and demanding—the kind of voice that moves armies.

Eddie ran into the room, "What's going on?" He asked eyeing the people around the room.

"I'm guessing Adrian called you?"

"Yes, he said Alberta wasn't here."

I nodded. "Could you please escort Lady Ozera and Guardian Belikov out? Rose needs her rest. And then please come back." Eddie nodded.

"Lady Ozera, please follow me." Tasha followed Eddie out the door, and I turned back to Rose.

(RPOV)

"What the hell is she doing here!?" I yelled.

"It's Christian's birthday this week."

"Thanks for the heads up," I growled.

Lissa walked over to me, and I could feel she felt bad, but I was too upset. Then Adrian walked into the room behind her. "Hey little Dhampir. How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Been better," I muttered bitterly.

"Hmm," he watched me for a moment and then added, "It's the darkness again. It's all around you like before. Then there's the teal swirling all around too," Adrian said sadly.

"What does the teal mean?" Lissa asked.

"It's hope. In my case false hope," I replied with tears forming in my eyes.

Lissa walked over to the bed I was sitting on and sat down beside me, wrapping her arms around me into a tight hug.

I laid my head against Lissa and closed my eyes. I was close to falling asleep when I heard a noise that made me open my eyes.

Dr. O walked into the room with a solemn look on her face. "Rose, could I talk to you privately for a moment?"

"It's okay. Whatever it is, Lissa and Adrian can know," I assured her.

Dr. O closed the door and looked back at me. "You certain?" I saw a trace of pity in her eyes as I nodded her on. "Rose, you're pregnant."

The world stopped. This was impossible. I couldn't be pregnant…the only person I had ever been with was Dimitri. Dimitri. There was his name again like another stab to the heart.

"That's impossible," I whispered still deep in thought.

"No, it's not Rose, your blood panel confirms it," she shook her head.

"But you don't understand. I've never been with a Moroi."

"Rose there's no shame. No one's judging you."

"No, I mean it. I've only ever been with one person, and he is a Dhampir."

"Rose, are you sure?" She asked me once again.

"Positive."

"Oh my God! I may know what's going on!" Adrian yelled before darting out of the room before anyone else could respond.

Lissa talked to Dr. O while I sat on the hospital bed in my own world. She gave Lissa and me some space, telling me I would still have to answer some questions later.

I began crying, and Lissa tried to comfort me. I knew she believed me which helped immensely. She just sat with me while I cried on her shoulder.

After a few minutes, she grabbed her phone. I knew who she was calling as she had been contemplating it.

Christian walked into the room shutting the door behind him. "What's going on?" He asked when he saw me crying.

Can I tell him? She asked me through the bond.

"Yes," was all I managed to say through the flood of tears streaming down my face.

"They need to leave," Lissa said to Christian. "I know she's your family, but Rose is mine." Christian nodded.

Lissa took a deep breath then continued. "Rose is pregnant, and It's Dimitri's."

I chocked back a sob at her words.

Christian gaped, "But that's impossible."

"Apparently it's not. Adrian thinks he may have an idea but he ran off before he could tell it to us," Lissa said.

"That bastard!" Christian growled.

"Adrian?" Lissa asked genuinely confused.

"No Dimitri," Christian sighed. "I'm calling Alberta."

"No need." Alberta said as she opened the door. She looked over at me, "Oh Rose, what's wrong?"

I began sobbing more than I had been before. I'll tell her, Lissa offered through the bond. I just nodded. I might not have liked it but nonetheless she needed to know.

"Rose is pregnant, and it's Dimitri's. Yes we thought it was impossible. It's not."

"I don't think it's appropriate my Aunt and Guardian Belikov stay here under the circumstances," Christian piped up.

I curled into Lissa's side. Alberta was practically fuming when Adrian burst through the door with an old book in his hand. "I found it! I was right!" He yelled.

He handed the book to Lissa, and I popped into her head to read it. "Oh my God," Lissa and I said in unison. The words shocked me, but they made sense.

"When I healed Rose, I made it possible for her to have kids with another Dhampir." Lissa said.

Everyone's mouths were hanging from their jaws, and Adrian looked extremely proud of himself.

"So what do we do?" I asked finally.

"Well it's up to you whether we tell him or we don't, and we will support you either way," Lissa said calmly.

"He has a right to know," I sniffled.

"You don't have to tell him. And if you want to, you don't have to do it. I will," Adrian offered.

"No I need to tell him. Can someone make sure it's just him and not Tasha?"

"Yes I'll guard her in the meantime," Alberta said.

"Thank you," I replied.

"Do you want me to be here with you?" Lissa asked.

"No, it's okay, but would you be close by?"

"Of course."

(LPOV)

Alberta was talking to Tasha and Dimitri while I was hiding behind a building. I was waiting for Dimitri to walk away as Alberta told him he was needed in the guardian headquarters.

When Tasha finally agreed to peel herself away from Dimitri, Alberta quickly ushered her in the other direction.

When Dimitri was about to walk in front of the building I was behind, I stepped into sight. I fell into step beside him, "You're not needed at the guardian headquarters," I said coldly.

"I figured. I could tell Alberta was angry. I just had a feeling."

We kept walking in silence for a moment until I stopped in front of him. I looked him directly in the eye. I knew the dangerous glint in my eyes was evident. I glared at him.

"She is my best friend. The bravest and kindest person I know. And you broke her. If you think she's dangerous protecting me, you have no idea how far I'll go to protect her."

Dimitri just nodded.

"You are going to go talk to her because she has something to tell you. You will do everything she says and agree with her. If it was up to me, you'd be dead. And if you don't follow my instructions, you will be. Do you understand?"

Dimitri nodded again. "Yes, Princess."

"Good." And with that, I turned around and walked to the infirmary to go see Rose with DImitri following behind me.


	6. Chapter 6

Adrian sat in a chair at the small table in the room, and Eddie stood guard at the door.

"Oh god, this is a horrible idea," I muttered.

"Am I supposed to tell you it's not? Because I completely agree that it is."

I took a deep breath. Lissa had just told me they were almost here and my ball of nerves grew even more, which I hadn't thought possible. "They're here," I said right before there was a knock on the door.

"I'll be right outside," Eddie said before opening the door.

"You've got this, little Dhampir," Adrian whispered, then he too got up and walked out of the room.

I sat crisscrossed on the bed, wearing my jeans and a black t-shirt.

Dimitri stepped inside and my heart dropped. I told myself it would be fine. I thought I was prepared, but in that moment, staring up at him, I realized I wasn't prepared in the slightest. I took a deep breath. "Close the door."

Dimitri shut the door and then stood beside it.

"You might want to sit down," I said, nodding to the chair at the little table. "You're going to think I'm lying. I'm not." Deep breath. "If it wasn't true, I wouldn't be talking to you. I never really wanted to talk to you again actually."

Dimitri did as I said and took a seat where Adrian had been seconds before. I could still hear his encouraging voice as he was leaving the room. I can do this, I silently repeated to myself. I closed my eyes. This was the first time I was saying it aloud. I took another deep breath as a tear slipped down my cheek. I quickly wiped it away. It felt as if my heart had shattered all over again.

Opening my eyes, I looked over at Dimitri. "I…I'm pregnant. And it's yours."

The briefest hint of a smile flashed over his face, but it was gone so quickly, I wondered if I had only imagined it. Replacing it was a look of shock and utter disbelief.

Watching him as he processed the words brought back all the memories of what led us to this moment and our time at the cabin, and it made my heart ache even more.

"How?" Dimitri asked finally.

"Spirit," I told him. "When Lissa brought me back from the dead, that's when it happened."

"That's impossible"

"Apparently it's not. There's a case in one of the books in the church archives."

"Could I see the book?" He asked.

I nodded and picked the book up from where it sat beside me. Dimitri walked over and took it from me. He stood where he was and read the page the book was flipped to. Being so close to him brought back so many memories and so many feelings I had tried to shove down, they all came rushing back to the surface like a tidal wave. And then something felt different.

And then I knew it. I got up and ran into the hallway. Eddie looked like he was ready to attack for a split second and then he saw it was me and a look of relief flashed over his face. Everyone was staring at me with a worried look on their faces except Lissa who had a look of shock on her face. My jaw dropped as mine and Lissa's eyes met.

"It can't be," I managed to get out.

"What happened?" Adrian asked looking between the two of us staring intensely.

"I didn't want to see that," Lissa said.

I shook my head, "Believe me I didn't want you to see that either."

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" Adrian asked.

"Well considering I can hear Rose's thoughts, I figure the bond is now officially two ways," Lissa said.

Everyone looked between Lissa and I before she turned to ma and said, "I guess that was payback for all the times you spied on me."

"I never spied on you," I replied defensively.

"I believe you did," I heard a voice say behind me.

I turned around and saw Dimitri standing behind me with the book still in his hands. There was an awkward pause with everyone in the room.

"Did you read it?" I asked finally. He nodded. "Maybe we should go talk in private," I suggested before walking back into the room.

I sat down on the edge of the hospital bed, and Dimitri stood by the table looking at me. "So, what do we do?" He asked.

"What do you want? I mean…" I could feel Lissa watching, and it strangely made me feel better.

"Well do you want me here?" He asked stepping closer to me.

"You know I tried so hard. So hard to convince myself to hate you. To forget about everything and how I felt about you. I pushed it down as far as I could. But my feelings for you were still always buzzing in the background; a buzzing you kind of get used to over time. But then I saw you and the buzzing it…it became loud, deafening even…" I chocked back a sob. "So, I need to know something. How? How could you throw all of that away? Was it nothing to you?" Tears escaped my eyes and fell down my face. My vision was blurred but not enough to miss the dazed look on Dimitri's face.

A look I knew well.

And Lissa was thinking the same thing as I was because a second later, she busted through the door.

"Do you really think?" She asked.

"If so, could you reverse it?"

"I assume I could. I'll try," she said before walking over to Dimitri who still had a blank look on his face. "Dimitri, are you being compelled?" She asked while looking him straight in the eyes. I felt the surge of magic in her before he answered.

"Yes," he choked out.

"TELL ME EVERYTHING." Lissa said using the most compulsion I had ever felt her use.

"Lady Ozera compelled me, saying if I didn't become her Guardian, she would ruin my career and have someone kill Rose," He spewed, sweat dripping from his face. The two opposite sides of the compulsion were ripping him apart. But Lissa's compulsion was stronger than Tasha's.

As the dazed and pained look washed away from Dimitri's face, it was replaced by shock and shame. I couldn't help it-my emotions took over, and I wrapped my arms around Dimitri and hugged him. "I am so sorry," I whispered.

"For what?" He asked pulling away and looking into my eyes.

"You were just trying to protect me."

"Roza don't think for a second this is your fault. I would do anything for you."

I reached up and kissed him. It felt magical. Blissful. Better than any vampire bite. It felt like coming home. In that moment Dimitri and I were the only people in the world. We were all that mattered.

I pulled away, "So what do we do?" I asked.

"Well we still have Tasha to worry about," Dimitri said.

"Oh leave her to me. She won't be a problem very much longer," Lissa said. If we weren't bonded, I would have thought she was going to kill her, but I knew she had other plans.

"Then I have a call to make," I gulped.

"Are you sure," Lissa questioned.

"It better come from me and not someone else."

Lissa went to start her plan and Dimitri gave me the room knowing who I was calling. As I heard the ringing of the phone my heart started to race.

"Rosemarie?" I heard my mom ask as the line picked up.

"Mom do you happen to be near the infirmary?" I asked.

"I'm on ward duty but it's about time for me to get off. Is everything ok?"

"I'll tell you when you get here."

"Okay, I'll be there in 5 minutes," she said before hanging up.

I paced around the room until I heard a knock at the door.

Opening the door I saw my mother in her guardian uniform. She came inside, and we sat down across from each other at the table in my hospital room.

I took a deep breath, "I'm pregnant." She looked shocked but I continued, "There are some things we didn't know about Spirit. Like the fact that a shadow kissed Dhampir can have a baby with another Dhampir." I paused for a moment to see my mother's reaction.

"Who's the father?" she asked, her demeanor full of shock.

I took a deep breath as a ball of nerves formed in my stomach. I took another deep breath, "Guardian Belikov."

"WHAT!" She exploded.

"Mom, please, I'm not finished," I whispered.

She pursed her lips and let me continue. "As you know, he took the job with Lady Ozera. Well she was compelling him, and of course he didn't know about the baby. I didn't even at that point.."

I took an another breath. "He was trying to protect me. He loves me and I love him." I said crying now.

Something crazy happened. My mother, Janine Hathaway, hugged me. "I know someone who can help."

"You're not mad?" I asked through tears.

"Oh I'm furious but we'll get to that later."

"Who are you going to call?"

"Your father."


	7. Chapter 7

The next day…

There was a knock at the door. I had to spend the night at the hospital, despites my objections. I knew exactly who was at the door.

"Lissa, you don't have to knock."

Lissa opened the door, "Well I was with Adrian."

"I know I can read your thoughts; this isn't new. And you can read mine to make sure you can come in. Knocking is unnecessary."

"Stop stalling and lets go," she said.

"Has anyone seen him?" I asked as we were walking down the hallway.

"No apparently he's really secretive," Adrian shrugged.

"Well I could have told you that…sorry, I'm just nervous."

"I know. Your aura's a horrific green color."

"Thanks?"

"Green means your nervous," he explained.

"Ok."

When we got to Kirova's office, I felt my heart rate quicken. My mind raced with every possible outcome of what was behind her office door. Lissa squeezed my hand as Adrian opened the office doors.

'Please do the talking,' I begged Lissa through the bond.

There were two chairs pulled up to Kirova's desk. I could tell my mother was sitting in one from the curly red hair. In the other, a man sat, and he was wearing a purple scarf and matching tux. He had short hair that was the same color as mine. When he turned around in his seat, I saw his eyes-which were also dark like mine-flash with something that looked like a mix of recognition and awe.

"Ah Rose, I see you brought an entourage," Kirova said, although her tone had a note of surprise in it, and while still sarcastic, it was notably less than normal.

"Well Lissa was going to be here anyway. Might as well be in person. And Adrian well I don't know, he's Adrian. He's always everywhere," I replied.

Everyone in the room gave me a confused look. I personally thought it was funny messing with them while they still didn't know about the bond. My mom was already standing, and she cleared her throat. The Moroi sitting beside her stood up. I noticed he looked to be around mid-40's.

I quickly scanned the room and noticed multiple guardians I didn't recognize in the room. I also didn't recognize their uniforms. They weren't the school's issued uniforms nor the regular guardian uniforms. They looked more expensive.

"Rosemarie, this is Abe. Abe, Rosemarie."

Abe held out his hand, but I stood there for a moment before shaking it. "I go by Rose."

"Nice to meet you Rose," he said putting emphasis on my name.

I heard Adrian gasp behind me. I turned around, and he looked like he had just seen a ghost.

"Listen Rose. If this guy really is your father, then your dad is the most powerful non-royal Moroi there is. He's even more powerful than some royals. He has a lot of businesses most them illegal. Basically, every royal knows who Abe Mazur is. He's a dangerous, not-to-be-messed-with mob boss," he whispered into Lissa's ear. This whole two-way bond was coming in handy.

"What!?" I said aloud. Turning around everyone looked more shocked than they had when I had talked about Lissa being here.

'Oh my God Rose. I know what Adrian's talking about.' Lissa said through the bond before showing me a memory. It was before her parents died. She was young-maybe 11-and they were at Court. A bunch of royals were yelling about the mob boss, Abe Mazur.

I turned towards Lissa and Adrian wide eyed. "Did you two plan this? Because...you know what-never mind, this definitely isn't too crazy because normal stuff just doesn't happen to me."

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" My mother asked.

I turned back around. "Our bond is two ways now," I said pointing back at Lissa. "And according to Lissa and Adrian, you could have given me a little extra information yesterday."

"We'll get to that later, Rosemarie. Now please we need to discuss other matters. Please sit."

Lissa and Adrian crept over to the couch against the wall. One of the school's guardians brought me over a chair, and I begrudgingly sat down on the other side of my mother. "Can the school guardians leave for this conversation?" I asked Kirova. She pursed her lips. "Oh come on there's half a dozen other guardians in here. Not to mention the Janine Hathaway and me."

Kirova turned to Abe, "Is that ok with you, Mr. Mazur?"

"That's fine with me."

Kirova dismissed the four school guardians in the room. Once they were gone I said, "I'm guessing you know some of what's going on."

"Actually, no, Your mother wanted to wait until you were here to explain the situation."

I scoffed, "That was nice of you," I said to my mother.

"Responsibility. You have to take responsibility for your mistakes."

I fumed. "mistakes?" 'oh no' I heard Lissa think.

I was about to screamsomething out but then Lissa jumped up and came over to me. "Rose it's ok," she said calmly in my ear. "Deep breaths. Remember there are countless hormones coursing through you," she whispered so only I could hear. She grabbed a nearby chair and pulled it up beside me.

"As you hopefully know, I took a recent Spirit-related trip to the infirmary." Kirova nodded. "While there I discovered something shocking." Another deep breath. "I'm Pregnant."

Kirova gasped and so did Abe. I guess mom hadn't told him after all. "But even more shocking is the fact I've only ever been with a Dhampir."

"But that's impossible. What about Jesse Zeklos?"

"I'm not a slut! Jesse and I didn't actually do anything."

"Rosemarie!" My mother hissed.

"Are you sure?" Kirova asked me as if I wasn't sure of all the people I had slept with.

"Yes, there has only ever been one person," I assured her.

"If you're so sure, may I ask who?"

I exchanged quick glances with Lissa, Adrian, and my mother before nodding, "Guardian Belikov."


	8. Chapter 8

"GUARDIAN BELIKOV!" Kirova yelled making everyone in the room flinch.

'_This outta be fun_,' I said sarcastically to Lissa through the bond. "Um yes…"

"I should have known you would do something like this," she snapped before turning to my mother, "Janine you have my word this won't be tolerated."

"Calm down for a minute, Ellen, there's more to the story," my mother said before turning to me, and I started to recount the details.

I got teary-eyed a few times bringing up so many memories, and there were quite a few AWKWARD moments considering this was the first time a lot of people had heard the whole story. It honestly felt like an invasion of my privacy-things I wanted to keep to myself, moments I wanted to cherish. And now, everyone knew about it all.

By the end of my recollection, Lissa was wrapping me in a hug, and it strangely made me feel better.

"OH MY GOD!" Adrian yelled.

"What?" Both Lissa and I asked as we pulled apart.

"You were doing it again when Lissa was hugging you. I think we need to talk privately for a second though."

Lissa and I gave each other wary looks before following Adrian out the door. There were still two school guardians posted outside the door. They both gave me judging looks so I was pretty sure they heard what happened thought the door. _Great_.

Adrian led us to the end of the hallway. It was empty with the closest guardians being the ones still by Kirova's office door.

"Watching it in person...it was different. I don't think you were pulling Lissa's light. I think the baby was doing it."

"What?!" I exclaimed.

"Well the darkness can't be good for the baby. Maybe he or she is pulling light from Lissa to keep themselves safe."

"That's…crazy," I said.

"It's just a theory, but I'm going to go see if it could be correct. I need to go to the church attic. Are you two okay going back in there alone?" He asked.

I nodded, and then he quickly walked away.

"Adrian had something to take care of," I said as I stepped back into Kirova's office. I had left out the role Tasha played in any of this, so we could figure out how to explain that we knew Dimitri was being compelled.

As we sat back down, I said, "I have yet to tell you the main reason we're here. I noticed something strange while talking to Dimitri…" I screwed up calling him Dimitri-I saw my mother and Kirova both flinch. Nevertheless, I continued, "There was a strange dazed look on his face. One I had seen before. But only I had never seen it so prominent."

I mentally asked Lissa if she was ok with what I was about to say. When she confirmed she was fine I continued, "As you know, Lissa is a Spirit user. One trait Spirit users have is extremely strong compulsion. With a Spirit user compulsion, it can be hard to tell. But there are however a few signs, a slight glazed-over look in the eyes, and whatever they say seems rehearsed. Except this was different. The signs were easily spotted."

I looked over at Lissa, "So I went into the hallway and got Lissa, and she confirmed he was under compulsion. She was able to break through it. It's still there but she temporarily got through it. Apparently, Tasha has been using a mix of blackmail and compulsion to keep Guardian Belikov as her guardian. She threatened to ruin me. To hurt me if he tried to leave. And he was under compulsion. That's why he left and never came back. He was trying to protect me."

"Compulsion. Are you sure?" Abe asked.

"Positive."

He turned to mom, "I'm assuming this is why you called me?" She nodded.

"What can you do?" I asked more curious than anything.

"I have every imaginable resource. I have people everywhere. Anything that needs to be done, I can make it happen."

"She's crying. Uncontrollably. What do we do?" Adrian asked Lissa. I was too upset to yell at him.

"It's hormones. I can tell they're uncontrollable. She's not even sure why she's doing it," Lissa replied kindly.

"Well what do we do?" Adrian asked.

I felt Lissa put up a mental barrier and then whisper something I couldn't hear to Adrian. He nodded, and then Lissa walked out of the dorm.

It was around three hours since our meeting in Kirova's office ended. Lissa had decided I was staying in her dorm for a while. So, I was balled up on the bed in the other bedroom in Lissa's dorm crying like a maniac.

She was only gone for about ten minutes. Adrian stayed with me standing awkwardly, not really knowing what he should do.

I heard the front door open, and Adrian breathed a sigh of relief. Lissa still was heavily guarding her mind, so I had no idea what was happening.

Lissa walked in the room and then something quite surprising happened. Dimitri walked in behind her. My heart skipped a beat. I felt Lissa take down her mental borders, but I was too focused on Dimitri to figure out what she was thinking.

He walked over to me and sat at the edge of the bed. He looked at me for a moment before wrapping me in a tight hug. I melted into him, and Adrian and Lissa quietly slipped out of the room shutting the door behind them.

Dimitri held me while I cried. I had missed this so much. Being this close to him. It was as if without him I was nothing. He was the other half of me.

When I was finally able to talk without sobbing, I turned to Dimitri. "We need to figure out how we handle all of this. Abe wants to know how he can help. Nothing's off the table."

"Abe?" Dimitri asked.

"Apparently Lissa didn't tell you anything." I huffed. Then continued, "Well as you know I met my father. Apparently, he's some big shot Turkish mob boss. Abe Mazur," I said in a matter of a fact tone.

"ZMEY IS YOUR FATHER?!" Dimitri was extremely freaked out. I had never seen him this way, not even while fighting with a Strigoi.

"What?"

"Oh! I am dead!" He said running his hands through his hair.

"What's going on?" I asked, as calmly as possible.

"Abe or Zmey as he's known in Russia is more than slightly dangerous, he's everywhere. I might as well be dead. Oh God, your Zmey's daughter, and I hurt you. Oh God!"

"Dimitri calm down. He didn't seem too upset with you. I mean everyone did at first. Then when I told them about Tasha's compulsion they all kind of chilled out. About you, I mean, then everyone kinda flipped out like 'Oh no, a royal using compulsion, taboo!'"

Dimitri laughed, and I saw him starting to calm down. "It's going to be ok, we just need to figure out how we want to handle Tasha," I assured him.

"I guess we definitely have the resources now that Zmey is involved." He sat there for a moment. "Well I need to be with you whatever we have to do. I love you Roza, and I'm not going anywhere."

I was walking to Stan's class the next day. I had been able to sleep in since Alberta had canceled my training with mom until further notice. I was instructed to take it easy. Alberta and Kirova wanted to tell my teachers, but I insisted they wait and with a little persuasion from Abe they finally agreed.

I walked past a group of royals. They kept walking, but one of them stayed behind.

Jesse.

He walked over to me with a huge smile that showed his fangs plastered on his face. "Ah Rose. I just wanted to tell you congratulations on the miracle baby. You and Guardian Belikov are going to be great parents."


	9. Authors Note

I'm very sorry for the lack of recent updates and the inconsistent schedule, I have Chapter 9 written however, I'm debating in what direction the story will go. So, if anyone has any ideas for what should happen next, or any details from the books or movies they believe I should/could incorporate feel free to leave a comment. I do look at them, or PM me I will do my best to use the ideas. I will be posting Chapter 9 soon so please be on the lookout.

Also, I hope everyone is/stays healthy and well amid the pandemic.

-Bri901


	10. Chapter 9

Lissa was shaking me. "Rose! ROSE!" I jumped up. "Rose, it was just a dream."

I let out a sigh of relief. I'd just had the worst dream that Jesse knew about the baby.

"Rose, they don't know. And we will keep it that way. Okay?"

I nodded. Dimitri had left not too long ago, and I had immediately drifted off to sleep. He had calmed me down, and we spent hours talking about nothing in particular.

One of my biggest fears was that everyone was going to find out. And I just didn't know if I could handle that right now.

We had another meeting with Abe tomorrow, and this time Dimitri and _Tasha_ were invited. Kirova had gotten into contact with Tasha just saying she wanted to meet about Christian. She had no idea what was coming. And when I told Dimitri he would be attending the meeting, he looked terrified.

To Tasha, Dimitri was going as her guardian, but she would find out the truth very soon.

I got dressed in my '_prettiest'_, which consisted of a burgundy blouse Lissa had bought me one Christmas and a pair of black leggings. Lissa did my hair in a messy braid that fell over my left shoulder. Abe had said looking well presented and less like a guardian would help. Something about guardians being invisible to royals, and that I needed to make my presence known. I didn't think I had to dress pretty for Tasha to notice I was there but whatever helped.

Lissa wore a flowy knee-length baby pink dress, and once ready, we began to head out the door when Lissa stopped me. I noticed she had blocked her thoughts from me again.

I gave her a questioning look. She held out her palm and opened it. I gasped when I saw what she held. It was her family crest pendant.

"Lissa," I whispered shocked.

"I want to show everyone that I support you. And that my family would to." She walked up behind me and put the necklace on me.

It's small but just the right size. It hung down to the end of the slight V-neck in the blouse. I ran my hand over the pattern still in shock, but then Lissa began herding me out of dorm.

When we got to Kirova's office the only people that hadn't already arrived were Dimitri and Tasha. Even Christian was there to support me. I was starting to like him more and more each day. He was still a jerk but a loyal one.

I sat down, and everyone's eyes landed on the Dragomir pendant hanging around my neck. Adrian and Abe smiled and there were a few gasps from different people in the room, but no one actually said anything.

I noticed Abe's guardians were the only ones in the room. I smiled, appreciating they had taken notice from our last meeting. We talked strategy for around 10 minutes as planned before Tasha was supposed to arrive.

Like clockwork, Tasha showed up at the exact time she was scheduled to. The room was set up with 3 couches surrounding Kirova's desk. Christian and Adrian were sitting on the couch to the left of Lissa and I. Lissa and I were in the middle and Abe and Mom were to our right. There were also three chairs set up around the desk as well, two beside Christian and Adrian one occupied by Alberta, the other meant for Dimitri. Then there was one chair beside Abe and Mom meant especially for Tasha.

A school guardian was stationed at the door, and he opened the door for Tasha and Dimitri.

Tasha's expression quickly became confused. Kirova who was sitting behind her desk quickly stood. "Natasha, thank you for joining us."

"What's going on Hellen?" She asked.

"Please have a seat, Natasha," Kirova said, gesturing to the seat beside Abe and Mom.

She reluctantly sat down. Scanning the room, her eyes landed on me. Her face showed a disgusted look on it. Then when she saw my pendant, she looked shocked beyond words. I kept an impassive look on my face.

Dimitri had stayed by the door. He looked like he was sweating through his uniform. Through his guardian façade, I could see fear. He kept glancing at Abe like he was going to throw up.

"Guardian Belikov, please sit down as I think we have enough guardians to protect us," Kirova said motioning around the room before nodding at the seat beside Alberta.

Dimitri nodded before sitting down keeping his same guardian face strictly in place.

Abe stood up and cleared his throat, "Thank you all for being here. I'm Ibrahim Mazur, but please call me Abe." He flashed Tasha and Dimitri a menacing smile showing his fangs. Dimitri looked like he was about to poop himself and Tasha got a look of realization on her face.

"As in _the_ Abe Mazur?" Tasha asked.

"The one and only," Abe smiled. "Most of you know why I arranged this meeting but some are still in the dark," he continued.

He looked at me, "Miracles have happened, and I believe in the event of a miracle, meetings should be held and things should be discussed."

Tasha looked quite confused but stayed quiet as Abe kept on. "I recently met my daughter for the first time. Sadly it was due to some non-ideal situations.

"Rose, as most of you know, is my biological daughter. Her mother called me after an unfortunate incident that ended up with Rose in the infirmary. While there she received some shocking news."

He looked at me again before continuing, "She's pregnant. But that's not the most surprising part. That would be who the father was."

I looked over at Dimitri, and he looked like a deer in the headlights. "I was informed that there was only one man my daughter had been with. And imagine my surprise when I found out he's a Dhampir. But not just any Dhampir: a guardian _and_ her teacher/mentor."

Tasha looked shocked. She looked between me and Dimitri, a hurt look on her face.

Dimitri, on the other hand, looked scared for his life, like he was just waiting until Abe killed him.

"But that's not even possible. Dhampirs can't have children together," Tasha protested.

"Ah but Rose isn't just any Dhampir, she's shadow kissed. Making it entirely possible," Abe countered.

"But everyone knows that Rose has been with _many _people, not all of them Dhampirs. Like Jesse Zelkos," Tasha argued.

"Oh for God's sake, I never slept with Jesse."

On that note, Abe continued, "Now when I heard he left her shortly after I was furious. Granted I wanted to get a hold of this man and have a few _words_. Until I heard why. He was being compelled and blackmailed by a royal Moroi so he would be her guardian and God knows what else. When I found out that my daughter was being threatened as a means of blackmail, I was appalled."

He looked Tasha in the eyes, "Then I found out who was doing it, and I wasn't surprised."

Tasha looked horrified, probably that we had figured out how to break her compulsion.

Abe spoke again, this time directly to Tasha, "I understand Guardian Belikov is your guardian. We _could_ contact the queen-whose nephew is in the room, might I add-to resolve the matter, and I would be more than happy to go that route. However, if you know what's right for you, Natasha, we will find a peaceful way to resolve this matter."


	11. Chapter 10

The meeting had ended shortly after Abe threatened Tasha. I stood up from my chair, Tasha had already begun walking towards the door. She paused for a moment and looked back at us. And in practically a flash she had grabbed me. I felt the cold silver of a stake against my throat.

My guardian instincts immediately kicked in I reached my hand up and felt the stake against my neck. Abe's guardians were rushing toward us, but Tasha tightened her grip on me, "If you come any closer I'll kill her!" She roared.

The guardians froze in place and looked at him for instructions. He shook his head. I knew better than to move with a sociopath holding a stake to my throat. I looked around the room everyone was standing up with horrified looks on their face.

Lissa was screaming through the bond and Dimitri looked like he was about to kill Tasha his guardian façade completely gone. What I wanted to know is how Tasha got a stake.

"Natasha, what do you want?" Abe asked extraordinarily calm.

She turned to Dimitri, "I want you Dimka" she said to him with a smile on her face.

Dimitri grimaced he hated Tasha but he wasn't going to let her kill me.

"Natasha…" Abe said.

"No. I'll go with you. Let's just leave peacefully," Dimitri said to Tasha.

Tasha gave him a wicked smile, "Ok," she responded before shoving me to the ground.

* * *

"I thought I could handle Natasha, however, she seems to have completely lost her mind," Abe declared. Dimitri and Tasha had just left and Abe gave a few of his guardian's orders to follow them. "I'm calling Tatiana. She owes me a favor and this seems like a perfectly good time to cash it in."

I couldn't stop thinking about Dimitri, Lissa tried to assure me that, Tasha wouldn't hurt him, but I wasn't so sure.

Abe's phone rang and when he picked up the conversation was quick. He nodded then hung up. "My guardians were able to safely detain Natasha," he informed us.

"And Dimitri?" I asked.

"I'm not sure. But you can come with me if you wish," he offered.

"Lead the way."

Tasha had tried to leave but Abe's guardians detained her at the gate. I saw Dimitri standing off towards the woods. I ran to him. "I was so worried about you!" I exclaimed. Then, not even caring who saw I reached up and kissed him. That kiss was exactly what I needed on such a horrible day. There was something magical about it, everything else melted away, all my worries. It was just me and Dimitri, even if only for a few seconds.

I pulled away to look at him, to make sure he was ok. He didn't even have a scratch on him and I was eternally glad nothing had happened to him.

"What happened?" I asked nodding at all the guardians.

"Well, we were in the car. Tasha was trying to leave. One of the school guardians at the gate had me get out he used an excuse about strigoi being spotted in a nearby town. Once I was out of the car Abe's Guardians were able to surround Tasha and get her out of the car as well," he explained.

I laid my head against Dimitri's chest, "I'm so glad you're ok. I thought I might have lost you. I don't know if I could do this without you," I said as my eyes began to tear up.

"I'm not going anywhere," he assured me. And out of a mix of relief, love, and hormones, I began crying. "Oh Roza It's ok," Dimitri tried to comfort me but hearing him call me Roza just made me cry more.

Before I even realized it Abe had walked over, "I've got it here. Why don't you two go relax? Tasha's in custody and I need to talk to the two of you soon anyway. So, I'll have one of my guardians come get you in a couple of hours. But try and at least think about what you want to do."

We nodded before Abe walked away. "We should go back to my dorm so we can have somewhere to talk privately. And we should get there before people start getting out of classes," I suggested.

"Of course. However, may I point out. Lissa can just go into your head if she wants to know what's going on," he replied, his thick accent melted my heart more than usual.

* * *

When we got to my dorm we still had a few minutes before classes got out, and luckily I had my room key on me, even though I hadn't needed it for the past few days.

My room was extremely cluttered but Dimitri didn't seem to mind.

He sat beside me on the bed. I started laughing, I laughed so hard that I was having trouble breathing.

"What's so funny?" Dimitri asked.

"It's not that funny," I laughed. "It's just Adrian told me right after you left that Tatian was your great aunt too. And that you are his cousin. And now we have a problem of epic proportions and I'm probably about to be poked and prodded by every royal researcher and doctor that exists," I laughed. "I hope you don't want to get rid of the baby because once the queen catches wind of this it probably won't even be an option."

Dimitri grabbed my hands, "Roza, I'm not going to let anyone mess with you, and I will support you in any decision you make. But all I ever wanted to be a family, and after I met you. I knew you were the only person I ever wanted to be with. Which crushed me at first, because I thought we couldn't have a family. So, as I said, I will support you, whatever you need, but I would love to be a family."

"Oh God, I needed to hear you say that," I started crying but this time it was tears of joy. "Since I found out I was pregnant all I wanted was to be able to have this family with you. And to guard Lissa. OH NO LISSA! What am I going to do about guarding Lissa?!"

This time Lissa answered I hadn't even known she was listening but I guess she heard her name and wanted to see what was up. '_Are you kidding? You're going to have to be more worried that I'm going to fall in love with your kid and try and kidnap them. When we go out I can keep an eye on the little one, make sure they're safe, and I'll have another guardian so if you need to take time off. Also, you have a dad I'm sure we could rope into babysitting sometime._'

"What about when you go to Lehigh?" I asked.

'_We'll figure it out,_' she assured me.

"Thank you, Liss," I spoke out loud.

"What did she say?" Dimitri asked.

"She told me I could still guard her while I had a baby. And she gave me some really good ideas," I smiled at him. "But we still need to figure out what you're going to do. You can't guard Lissa anymore, because then we would never be able to both take off at the same time."

'_He could ask to guard Christian_,' Lissa suggested.

"What?!" I exclaimed.

"_It makes sense," she continued, "We'll be together all the time, but have different guardians too. Also, he was guarding Christians Aunt. It's perfect, I mean can you think of someone better? It solves all of your problems."_

"Yes it does, doesn't it. And no actually I can't think of a better Idea." I added.

I quickly filled Dimitri in, he took a minute to think and then finally said, "I think this could work."

And with that, we figured out how all of this was going to play out, or so we thought.

* * *

When Abe's guardian came to get us there was luckily no one else in the hallway. The guardian took us to the guest housing, and I wasn't too surprised to find that Abe had a literal house and that it was huge. I figured this was where the Queen probably stayed when she visited, it made me wondered where she was going to stay now.

When we got to the door Abe greeted us in a purple suit and matching scarf.

"Good, you're here, come in," he greeted before inviting us inside.

And to be expected the inside was gorgeous. Dimitri and I sat on the couch and Abe sat at a chair across from us. "Have you decided how you wish to proceed?" He asked.

I took a deep breath, "We're keeping the baby."

"Ok."

"I also still want to be Lissa's guardian. And we were hoping there was some way Dimitri could get allocated to Christian."

"If that's what you want I can make it happen, but you should also know you don't have to be guardians, you have options," Abe assured me.

"Options?" I asked, extremely confused.

"Yes, there are other things that you could do."

"Like what?" I asked.

Abe looked shocked. "You could do anything you want to."

"But I've been training to be a guardian my whole life, 'They come first.'"

"Have you never considered being anything other than a guardian?" He asked.

"No. I can't even imagine doing something else."

"If you want to consider your options, both of you, nothing is off the table," he assured us.

"I don't need to think about it. I want to be Lissa's guardian. If it was anyone else I might think it over, but she's my best friend, and I can't imagine not being there for her."

"And Dimitri?" Abe asked.

"I'm with Roza, I would still like to be Lord Ozera's guardian if possible."

"Ok then, if that's what you two wish to do. However, Rose, I have a proposition. Would you consider taking a year off of being a guardian if I assured you that Lissa would be safe until you could become her guardian?" He asked.

"I could do that. I could take a year off and still be Lissa's guardian?" I asked.

"If that's what you want, I can make it happen," Abe assured.

"Do you think Dimitri could get some time off?" I asked.

"If that's what you both decide you want."

"Yes!" I said without even consulting with Dimitri. But I had a plane that I knew he would be on board with.

I jumped up and hugged Abe. I could tell he wasn't expecting it because he tensed up, but after a second he relaxed. "THANK YOU!"

"You're welcome."

I let go of him and went back to the couch. Abe had a smile on his face. "There is one more thing I want to make sure you know if you ever want or need anything, I will see to it."

"Thank you, that means a lot."

* * *

We hung out at Abe's for a little while longer until it was getting close to curfew. I had checked with Lissa and she was fine if Dimitri stayed over for the night. She just didn't want to get sucked into my head in the middle of the night. I assured her she wouldn't and then told Dimitri he didn't have to fo back to guest housing. He tried to hide it but I could tell he was happy to get to spend more time with me, and honestly, I was ecstatic.

The courtyard had cleared out so I wanted to talk to Dimitri about something. I put up my mental barriers so Lissa couldn't overhear our conversation, this was something she needed to hear in person.

I turned to Dimitri, "If you're ok with it I think we should go visit your family in Baia after I graduate."

Dimitri got this big smile on his face, "I think that's a wonderful idea."

"That's why I wanted you to take some time off I know how much you miss your family. And I would like to meet them. Plus my sources say it's beautiful there."

"They're going to love you," Dimitri assured me.

We both had huge smiles on our faces as we walked back to Lissa's dorm. And when we got there I quickly filled Lissa in on everything except our trip to Russia. That was something to tackle tomorrow. And after we said goodnight Dimitri and I retired to my room. He held me in his arms and I was quickly engulfed in a peaceful sleep.


	12. Chapter 11

I woke up around one that night and found Dimitri wasn't beside me. It was the middle of the night so I wondered where he could be. I got up and looked around to see if he had left a note as to where he went. Finally, I saw it, a note on my nightstand that I must have missed when I first got up. I immediately recognized it as Dimitri's handwriting. I began to read it.

_Rose,_

_I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry that I couldn't stay. I'm sorry that I didn't have the strength to say goodbye. But I've gone, and I'm not coming back. Don't come looking for me. I'm sorry I really did love you. I guess love isn't always enough._

_-Dimitri_

I just stared at the page, not registering what it was actually saying. I read it over and over again until I finally understood. He was gone, he had left me, again. Before I could stop them, the tears started flowing like an avalanche. Through the tears, I read the note once more, '_I'm sorry I really did love you.' _

_Did_.

Did that mean he didn't love me anymore? He left me. He really left me, with just a note. I meant it when I told him I didn't know if I could do this without him. And now?

The only thing I knew was that I had to get out of Lissa's dorm. I grabbed the keys to my dorm and quietly slipped out. I made it to my room without getting caught which was lucky because if anyone found me, they would be asking questions, like why I looked so distraught.

I laid on the bed and cried until I was exhausted, then I just laid there trapped in my own thoughts and emotions. I needed time to process, alone, so I put up my mental borders and fell back into a restless sleep.

I woke up around five with my stomach growling at me. I couldn't remember the last time I had eaten and even though I was hungry I had no desire to eat. So, I decided to go ahead and get myself past the whole "Denial" stage and move to something I knew how to handle. Anger. Because this time, I refused to let him destroy me.

The gym as I expected was empty. I had three and a half hours until class started so I planned on getting to the cafeteria to get a quick meal around eight.

I knew I shouldn't be exerting myself so much but I couldn't help it. When I started punching one of the punching bags, it was as if all my built-up anger and rage came out in every punch. As I had suspected this was just what I needed. He had left me...again. After everything, he just left. And he said goodbye with a note. A note! How crazy is that? So I punched the bag. By the time it was 7:45 I had punched it until my knuckles were close to bleeding. I had to get ready to go to the cafeteria and pretend everything was fine. So I took a quick shower, changed then finally, I was ready.

When I got there Lissa, Adrian, Christian, and Eddie were all already at the table. After I loaded my tray I went and sat down beside them.

"Hey, Rose!" Lissa greeted brightly. "Is everything OK? You weren't in your room when I got up this morning. And you were blocking me out of your head," I could tell she was extremely concerned but trying to hide it.

"Yeah, I'm fine I just woke up and couldn't fall back asleep, so I decided to do some training." Not a _total_ lie.

"Also, one of Abe's guardians came by this morning. The queen will be here a little after classes end," Lissa informed me. I poked at my eggs with my fork. "Oh my God! Rose your hands! What happened to them?" She asked.

"Nothing, I was just training."

"It must have taken some real force to do that damage," Eddie offered.

I shot him a glare, and he stared down at his plate.

"Dr. O said you need to be taking it easy," Lissa whispered.

"I'm fine," I assured her.

She tried to change the topic. "So I think Abe's going to talk to the queen about you getting some time off today," Lissa said. "It's going to be so much fun! We can do tons of shopping on the weekends. We're going to have a blast!" She squealed.

"Yep."

"Also, I think the queen is going to want to meet with you and Dimitri privately, so I can help you pick out what to wear," she whispered.

I took a deep breath. Lissa had no idea he had left me, that he had broken my heart...again. Nobody knew. Why should they? Dimitri was technically Tasha's guardian still. Yesterday we sat on my bed and made plans for the future, amazing plans and then, he just left. He said goodbye in a note. A _NOTE_! How fricking cliche.

I decided I had to leave before I said something I would regret. I turned to Lissa, "I have to go," I said before quickly rushing off.

I decided to go ahead and go to my first-period class which felt like it dragged on forever. I had never been happier for classes to be over than I was that day. It took almost everything I had not to just break down, not to mention having to dodge everyone and their questions.

And sure enough, Tatiana arrived around an hour before the end of classes, and as I expected everyone was talking about why the queen showed up at St. Vlad's for no apparent reason. If only they knew.

One of Abe's guardians found me shortly after my last class which came as no surprise to me. To my somewhat relief, Abe asked to meet with me before Tatiana. Once again I found myself at his guest house. One of his guardians opened the door and ushered me inside.

I found Abe sitting in the same chair he was when Dimitri and I were here the night before. Except for this time he had a solemn look on his face. I sat down on the couch across from him. "Before you say anything, there's something I have to tell you," I said. However, this didn't seem to surprise him. My eyes began to tear up, "Dimitri left. Last night I woke up and he was gone. All that I could find was a note, it just said he was leaving, and he didn't plan on coming back." I took a deep breath.

"Rose," Abe looked at me, "I already knew that. He called me, last night, he wanted to tell me before you told me. But that's not what I needed to tell you." He took a deep breath and then continued, "Rose, I got word around lunchtime that while Dimitri was leaving he was ambushed by a group of Strigoi. Fortunately, as far as I know, he has yet to be killed, but they have kidnapped him." I gasped. "But we think the reason they kidnapped him was to get to you." I had never seen Abe like this-he was so serious.

"WHY ME!?"

"We're not sure yet, but right now we need to keep you safe."

"NO! We need to find Dimitri. I don't care if he left me, I still love him, and I don't think I could live with myself if something happened to him because of me."

"Rose, I am coordinating with my guardians, and the guardians at court to try and find Dimitri and return him safely. But right now I need you to focus on keeping you and my future grandchild safe." Abe surprised me. I could tell he cared about me but I never really knew how much.

Abe and I talked for a little while longer before I decided I needed to go talk to Lissa. Before I could leave, however, Abe stopped me. He handed me a cell phone and a credit card. "These are just in case of an emergency. My number is already programmed into the phone, as well as Guardian Pavel my personal guardian, he is also the head of all of my guardians. Feel free to call either of us at any time, whenever, I mean it. And use the card whenever you need to. I can't imagine you'll need it very much. But if you do, it has all the money you need. Rose these give you options, but be wise."

"Thank you, dad. Is it ok if I call you that?" I asked.

"Of course," he replied with a huge smile on his face. And before I left, I hugged him.

As I was walking back to Lissa's dorm with my mental borders up I decided I was going to go rescue Dimitri. And if it was me they wanted it was me they could have.


End file.
